December 31, 2010

I do. I've seen them many times in many people over the past 25 years that I've worked in the field of Catholic apologetics and catechetics. They include:

Apathy

Lack of knowledge about Catholic teaching

Lack of knowledge of how to explain, defend, and share his beliefs from the Bible

Being bombarded with messages, arguments, and "come-to-our-church!" invitations from non-Catholic missionaries

Uncertainty

Doubt

Difficult moral challenges and temptations

Feeling a lack of love and acceptance by his fellow Catholics

No doubt, you've seen these warning signs in Catholics (or former Catholics) you know. And I'm sure that, if you're like me, you want to do something to help — to show a Catholic who's teetering on the edge of abandoning the Faith that there are good, solid, compelling answers to the questions, doubts, temptations, and difficulties they may be facing.

Helping people in that situation is something very dear to my heart. That's why, nearly four years ago, I established the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College as a means of reaching out to Catholics of all ages, and especially younger Catholics in high school, college, and who are just starting out in life as a young adult. Our goal at the Envoy Institute is to help equip them before they run into doubts and difficulties with the knowledge and tools the need to remain strong in their love for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Through Envoy Magazine, our conferences, summer apologetics camps, online materials, and more, we seek to teach Catholics how to explain their Faith more intelligently, defend it more charitably, and share it more effectively.

And you can be part of that outreach by becoming a member of the Envoy Institute. In addition to getting an automatic subscription to Envoy Magazine, as well as a bunch of other excellent benefits and insider perks, you'll also gain the satisfaction of knowing that you are personally doing something positive for untold numbers of young Catholics who are in real danger of losing their Catholic Faith when they get to college or head out into the workforce for the first time. (Those are the two must vulnerable transition points, by the way, the two key life junctures where many Catholics lose their Faith.)

You can get more information here about the Envoy Institute, who we are, what we do, and how you can join us as a sustaining member. Here are my goals as we head into 2011:

135 members at $10 per month. We have 112 now, so we need another 23

100 members at $30 per month. We have 45 now, so need another 55

45 members at $50 per month. We have 18 now, so need another 27

We also need more one-time annual donors at higher levels:

We currently have 5 members at $1,200 annually, but we need 20

And I'm looking for 10 members who pledge $2500 annually. Are you one of them?

Of course, as you might expect in this touch economy, the Envoy Institute is running a deficit right now for 2010, based largely on the cost of printing and shipping over 80,000 copies of Envoy magazine FREE to thousands of college students around the country (on nearly 50 major college and university campuses!). We also have a deficit incurred by our first-annual apologetics summer camp, which was extremely well received and promises to expand quickly in 2011. If you'd like to help me expand our Envoy Institute camps other venues in the summer of 2011 and beyond, as well as provide student scholarships for young Catholics whose folks aren't in a position to send them to camp, you can do that and much more good by becoming a member of the Envoy Institute.

Becoming a member of the Envoy Institute is simple and easy, and it helps us in our outreach to Catholic students — high school & college — and Catholic young adults. To enroll, please call Ms. Joan Bradley at 704-461-6009 or e-mail her at joanbradley@bac.edu or visit http://envoyinstitute.net/memberships.html.